St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-05-08

perfectly content to let the lady do the
talking. Doubtless he was conceited
enough among his male associates, but
he knew enough to Subdue himself be-
fore a brilliant woman. He was Just
the right combination of ditfidence and
freedom. The diffidence may have been
put on, but it was effective, for it was Il
tacit confession that he felt the lady's
superiority, and recognized the respect
due to her as woman. Not far away
was the typical
NEW YORK FoSSI.IZED DANDY.
He had run down the other belle of
the occasion, and she had taken a hope
less, helpless refuge on sofa. lie
stood over her intlicting her inwardly
rebelliOuS mind with social platitudes
and delighting to hear himself talk.
overburdened her with exhibitions of
his tremendous conceit. But the most
striking thing was that, with the excep-
ton of the young lady'S dress, the scene
was an exact counterpart of one in which
i saw the same man i'll one of those
risky balls where nice women
go profoundly masked. and where
others display themselves in costume de
ballet and worse yet. There he had EN-
gagged the ear of a ballet girl and was
peering down at her bare neck just as
he was doing in the case of the belle at
chocolatiere. And may | never have a
new dress if the ballet girl did not seem
to be as grieYOuSly bored as was her
respectable fellow-Sufferer. 1t is the
old man who can be impudent and
familiar under the guiSe of social GUS
toms, and he is the one being who is
perfectly happy in the belief that he is
really all the rage.
New York has its queer characters in
L.. .r1 -
provocationS. some of them being crankS
on one topic of reform or another; some
giving themselves up to odd pursuits,
and some existing quietly and unknown
until accident brings them into view.
i Two of them came together this week
as Il result of that annual terror OF
people who do not own their own resi-
dences. hOuSe-hunting One was very
rich woman, who moves every May day
as matter of principle: the other a
rich house owner away up town. lie
is devoted pretty much to the comforts
of his bachelor home and his newspaper.
His widest dissipation consists in rare
visits to the theater, Nibl0'S preferred,
when Il spectacular show has the
boards. He is one of the front row
kind. and his bald head ways with mod
crate content when the ballet caperS
across his line of vision. The lady in
the story took fancy to the exterior of
his house, and, though no apartments
were offered for rent, she climbed the
steps, and demanded to see the landlord.
They had an extraordinary interview
He was indignant beyond measure that
anybody should take his house for a
tenement house." She was determined
to hire quarters there for the ensuing
year and told him so. He wouldn't have
it, and she insisted. Finally he eX-
claimed in true Old-SchOol style:
BOUNDS, Madam, do you want hus-
band so bad that you poster me with
your h0uSe-renting Scheme?"
SHE LOOKED HIM OVER CoOLLY
and replied: Il like your house, and if
l had to take husband to get it L don't
know but you would do" Then they
stared at each other blankly for a mo-
view continued, but not before the Old
gentleman had courteously offered his
caller a chair, and when she left the
house it was with the understanding
that if each was of the same mind
| after a week of thinking it
over she might take an apart
ment in the house on the condition that
she submitted to be huSbanded. He has
called on her every day since, and it looks
now as if there might be marriage to
talk about very soon. The indoor decor
atoms of the houses opened for reeep-
tionS are so elaborate and tasteful that
the toilets of the inmates are viewed
rather as an accessory than a >chief
feature of the scene. Terra-cOtta plush
curtains and black satin liangingS, COW
cred with Japanese embroiderieS in col
ored silk, blend together without diff
Guilty. Fairy lights are interspersed
among banks of violet and green moss.